Talk by Paul Menzel from the University of Wisconsin: Looking forward to a GEO hyperspectral IR sounder

When

11:50 a.m. to 1:10 p.m., March 15, 2023

Where

(in person & remote) W. Paul Menzel, Senior Scientist, at the University of Wisconsin-Madison will talk about Looking forward to a GEO hyperspectral IR sounder: Creating LEO sounder products at GEO imager spatial and temporal resolution.

Abstract With a sounder and imager data fusion process, sounder products (e.g. clear sky temperature and moisture layers, total column precipitable water vapor, atmospheric stability, and cloud top pressures) can be created at imager resolution (through spatial fusion). Further application of the fusion process connecting low earth orbiting (LEO) sounder products to time sequences of geostationary (GEO) imager radiances creates a GEO sounder-like perspective of atmospheric changes in time (through spatial-temporal fusion). More generally, sounder products from any hyperspectral sounding instrument such as AIRS, IASI and CrIS, when paired with LEO imager (e.g., MODIS, AVHRR, VIIRS) or GEO imager (e.g., ABI, AHI, soon FCI) measurements, reveal more horizontal, vertical detail and - in the case of GEO imagers - also more temporal detail. In this talk we demonstrate the spatial-temporal fusion of CrIS soundings (and also TROPOMI trace gas observations) with ABI infrared radiances. This GEO/LEO fusion work is providing an early look at the remote sensing capabilities that will be routinely available with the advent of GEO hyperspectral infrared sounders (and GEO UV-visible spectrometers).

Bio Dr. W. Paul Menzel received his Ph.D. in theoretical solid-state physics from the University of Wisconsin (UW)–Madison in 1974. Shortly thereafter, Dr. Menzel joined the Space Science and Engineering Center at the UW where he was among the first to explore the possibilities for remote sensing of the Earth’s atmosphere from a geosynchronous multispectral satellite. In 1983, he joined NOAA/NESDIS as the leader of the Advanced Satellite Products Project in order to transition UW research advances into NOAA operations. In 1999 he was promoted to NOAA Senior Scientist responsible for conducting and expanding local and global research on environmental remote sensing systems. Upon retiring from NOAA in 2007, Paul served as the first Verner E. Suomi Distinguished Professor of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences for four years wherein he mentored students in remote sensing of the atmosphere. He currently is a Senior Scientist in the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies at the UW–Madison where he continues to pursue improving the synergy of low earth orbiting sounders (CrIS, IASI) and geostationary imagers (ABI, AHI) as well as studying cloud and moisture properties derived from HIRS and MODIS measurements over the past four decades. Since 2007 he is an AMS Fellow and in 2019 he was awarded the Yuri Gagarin Medal from the Russian Cosmonautics Federation for scientific contributions to the field of environmental remote sensing and international training efforts.